Year of Plenty

In genetically altered crops news, a Judge has put a halt to thepropagation of sugar beets that have been genetically altered to
withstand a dosing of Roundup herbicide. The AP report states:

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in San
Francisco found the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service violated environmental law by failing to take
a “hard look” at whether “Roundup Ready” sugar beets would eventually
share their genes with other crops.

Noting that pollen from genetically altered
sugar beets could be blown by the wind long distances to related crops,
such as chard and table beets, the judge ordered the agency to produce
an environmental impact statement examining the issue.

I
think chemicals are a part of our lives and there is no way to
extricate our food system from their use, but I do have to wonder about
genetically modifying crops (strike one) so that we can use more
chemicals on those crops (strike two), not really knowing the long term
consequences to human health and earth impact.(strike three?) I’m glad
to hear that they are taking good long hard look at this.

This little tidbit from the article caught my attention.

The ruling was a second blow for St. Louis-based Monsanto’s Roundup
Ready crops. While soy beans, corn, cotton, and canola genetically
engineered to withstand the company’s popular weed-killer have been in
wide commercial production for years, a similar ruling in 2007 forced a
ban on planting Roundup Ready alfalfa until a re-examination was done.
That environmental impact statement is not yet done.

In that soy beans and corn make up a huge part of the current food
chain (cow eats corn and soy, human eats cow; chicken eats corn and
soy, human eats chicken; human eats corn and soy), I wonder how much of
our bodies are Roundup Ready.

Craig Goodwin

I am a pastor, writer, and photographer in Spokane, Washington. All three vocations call for the discipline of paying attention to stories, people, and places. So that is my endeavor here - to look more closely and share some of what I see along the way.